Joel Freedman: Prison reforms are worth the effort

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By Joel Freedman

MPNnow

By Joel Freedman

Posted Apr. 7, 2014 at 1:47 PM

By Joel Freedman

Posted Apr. 7, 2014 at 1:47 PM

Canandaigua, N.Y.

According to a resolution approved by the Ontario County Board of Supervisors, “the purpose of prison is to punish those who have engaged in behavior that is illegal, dangerous and threatening, including murder, rape, theft, the distribution of narcotics, among other serious crimes.” Supervisor Margaret Hilton said that people who commit such crimes “cannot be rehabilitated.” But if punishment really is a penal institution’s sole purpose, why do we call them correctional facilities?

My own visits and correspondence with inmates — most of whom have returned or will return to their communities — have taught me that moral and spiritual growth can occur in prisons and jails. While the behavior of some inmates calls to mind the expression “Lock ’em up. Throw away the key,” my life has been enriched by individualizing rather than by stereotyping inmates. I also appreciate my friendships with former jail and prison inmates who have overcome destructive addictions or criminal lifestyles and who are now living productive, law-abiding lives.

In his State of the Union address 10 years ago, President George W. Bush, a conservative Republican who often supported “get tough on crime” policies, asked Congress for $300 million to help prisoners reintegrate into society.

“America is the land of the second chance and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life,” Bush said.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who shares Bush’s support for capital punishment and for prison conditions to be harsh enough to be deterrents, said in a speech to the American Bar Association that inmates should not be harmed or degraded, and that rehabilitation should be a major goal of incarceration.

“A decent and free society, founded on respect for the individual, ought not to run a system with a sign at the entrance for inmates saying ‘Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,’” Kennedy concluded.

Far too many prisons are plagued by violence between inmates, gang activity, drug trafficking, inmate aggression against correction officers, and brutality or other misconduct by some officers. There is a need to upgrade health care for inmates and to eliminate dangerous, unhealthy and unsanitary conditions that pose hazards for inmates, prison staff and, ultimately, our entire society.

Nowadays, most elected officials care little about prison reform. But the more we regard both prisons and prisoners as incapable of improvement, the more we will treat them in ways that discourage improvement, thereby perpetuating serious problems we should be trying to eliminate.